“The most formidable objection to the notion of female primacy points to the women who have gained power in the male system, those who turn out to be cruel, ruthless, or violent or who at least seem to espouse the very destructive values that women, according to this proposal, are supposed to transcend. (The woman governor of Washington campaigns for nuclear plants, the prime minister of England wants to move away from collective power, Phyllis Schlafly opposes abortion, and the woman mayor of my own city vetoes rent controls.) Would the female of the species, if given the chance, repeat the violence of the patriarchy? I argue no, for it seems to me that the system itself guarantees that anyone remaining within it will be affected by its corruption. If we would see how women really manage power and government, then let them demonstrate their abilities in a system that they themselves create out of their own values. There has never been an antipatriarchal woman in power since the beginning of male domination, but only women who are puppets of men behind the scenes, or women who are pawns of male business interests . . .

Consciousness cannot be halted by border patrols, and even consumerism and advanced technology may turn out to be aids in our learning about the lives of most of the world's women, in their learning about the benefits and the strictures of the lives of westernized women. If it is true that women universally have some fundamental sensivity it is true that there is some connection between the critical point that earth is now reaching in terms of resources and women's awareness of that, then the tide of women's rage may well rise up in response to those conditions. We may talk here in our English words of a female future, but it may well be the women of other nations who ultimately lead us in the most significant step toward that future . . .

When we talk of a female future we are talking of something that once existed and that has been deliberately and with full malice held down and controlled by means so violent that no nonaggressive entity could hope to resist. We are talking here about the power of women, felt by every women at some time in her life, that tremendously rich and life-giving, life-affirming force that functions for both men and women, for the earth and her creatures as well as for the human species. When we talk about a female future we are talking about a force that has been denied, hidden, trivialized, ridiculed and suppressed. That's where the violence lies — in the minute-by-minute, day-by-day suppression of the very force that gives us all life. A female future means the challenge to and the obliteration of that violence.

But time is short. And the species may not be able to adapt fast enough. For that reason it's imperative that the rising up of the female future be not just the rising of women but an action on the part of men as well — a movement of men who not only cease to hold down women but who earnestly lend their tremendous male power to the hastening of the female future. We can count on it: it will be for us all the most crucial, the most profound act that women and men have ever undertaken together. It may well be the very last act that we ever undertake together. For it becomes clearer with every moment: EITHER THE FUTURE IS FEMALE OR THE FUTURE IS NOT.”
                                                                           

“A passion for life is a passion for completeness. This means, at the most primal level, merging the male and female within oneself. The marriage of Shiva and Shakti is about spiritual potential, nothing less.

In men this means the advent of tenderness, nurturing, and trust. Having a woman supply these quantities is not enough. Male attributes of force and violence have become grotesquely exaggerated in this world because men leave the feminine energies to women. Aggression and violence will become unnecessary as the shadow energies they disguise — fear and impotence — come to the surface to be recognized and healed. Being venerable will then be seen as a human quality, not a weakness that makes a man only half a man. Competition based on raging (and insecure) ego will diminish with healing and the ability to cooperate will increase.

The worth of women in men's eyes will rise as men stop defending themselves as the opposite of female. Spiritually, male is the complement of female. Once this is accepted the awakening of male spirituality can come about, since it takes an infusion of female energy before our bodies and minds can totally merge with the silent field of pure awareness. By welcoming Shakti a man can truly be Shiva.

For women the journey to wholeness is different, because it first entails raising female qualities to full dignity with male. A woman must build up her energies, so long forced into submission by society, whereas a man typically has to diminish the dominance of his. In both instances what is being achieved is balance. No one has ever claimed that the world has too much affection, tenderness, nurturing, intuition, and beauty — all female spiritual qualities — while it is all too obvious that aggression, force, struggle, and competition — exaggerated male qualities — have gone too far.

A woman needs to allow herself however much time it takes to use Shakti energy to accomplish what has been reserved for the male ego. Shakti energy runs in everyone, but women have been given their femaleness to accentuate the difference between Shakti, which is subtle and spiritual, and brute force. This difference can be summarized as follows:

Shakti understands. Instead of imposing, she communicates.

Shakti has patience. Instead of forcing an answer, she waits for spirit to produce one.

Shakti is tender. Instead of ignoring emotions, she uses emotion to tell when someone else is ready to listen and act.

Shakti is peaceful. No situation ever requires force.

Shakti is creative. She creates answers where none were seen before.

Shakti is wise. She considers the whole picture rather than a few parts; she takes the cosmic perspective, which always comes from love.”       
                                                                           

“There are many indications now that women are beginning to get in touch with their own fundamental nature in ways that have been forbidden to them by patriachal traditions, set up as the only acceptable moral system several thousand years ago, which have kept our civilizatin in thrall to a philosophy that derogates the feminine and natural world. The remote, transcendent deity postulated by Western culture has proved enormously violent in all "his" incarnation from the warlike Old Testament Yahweh to the familiar Christian deity of crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, and battlefield invocations the world over. Now there is a fast-spreading tendency among women to reject this deity. Studies of the doleful history of Western religious sexism have made it clear that the God created in man’s image has promoted more male cruelty toward women than any other single cause.”